


Deciduous Winter

by ThisIsArt (ToHoldForever)



Series: Dreamy One-shots [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Comfort/Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Everyone represents a season, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Scents & Smells, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, heh pining and pinecones, oops I spoiled the story, prob a secret kink but none of that in this pure fic, so Season AU?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToHoldForever/pseuds/ThisIsArt
Summary: Akira was autumn.Sometimes Yusuke would find him falling asleep under the shade of its tree, falling deciduous leaves narrowly missing his tranquil figure. The sun is kind and the chill of the wind lightly brushes the hair spread out on his peaceful face. He looks so calm when he’s in a deep slumber, but when he’s awake, the fiery ocher in the leaves reflected him well. Unassumingly determined, perhaps mischievous as well. He’s the bridge between summer and winter for a reason.In other words, Yusuke thought he was beautiful.





	Deciduous Winter

**Author's Note:**

> YOOO! Here's a really fluffy and somewhat angsty fic for all the peeps following my other works. Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I'd want to because of school, but I should go off into a writing spree when winter rolls around or I have loads of free time. Enjoying my break as much as I can. However, I want to leave a promise of a continuation to both WYPM and Inari to those waiting on those... for now, this dreamy fanfic I worked on for a few hours, I hope, will keep you satiated.
> 
> But if you never saw any of those fanfics... HEY! I hope you enjoy this one. Still contemplating about making a Tumblr account, but we shall see, hmhm!! I need feedback for this fanfic and for that as well, one or the other (or both!) will totally be appreciated.

Akira was autumn.

Sometimes Yusuke would find him falling asleep under the shade of its tree, falling deciduous leaves narrowly missing his tranquil figure. The sun is kind and the chill of the wind lightly brushes the hair spread out on his peaceful face. He looks so calm when he’s in a deep slumber, but when he’s awake, the fiery ocher in the leaves reflected him well. Unassumingly determined, perhaps mischievous as well. He’s the bridge between summer and winter for a reason.

In other words, he thought he was beautiful.

Something about autumn endeared the lover of beauty, with its crisp air but moderate temperatures and the way the leaves fell so  _ lovelily  _ in their striking colors. It’s the type of weather that’s great to sleep to, and that’s what he does. That’s Akira’s specialty, although, because Morgana (the ambassador of summer) likes to remind him to do so regularly, an irony but it does make Akira’s constitution better. Futaba likes to disregard his orders, though, and stays up. Yusuke adores Futaba all the same because even her hair looks like the color of the trees, but there was something about the raven-haired boy which made him fascinated.

Maybe it’s the way he sleeps, a book clutched in his hand, resting nicely on his chest. Or his long eyelashes. Or how hot and cold his personality is, the way he can be sincere but joking when he wishes to, maybe the red gloves he wears compared to his black clothes. His laugh -- oh God, his  _ laugh  _ \-- it was heavenly and music to his ears. Maybe even the way he can go on a tangent about flowers with Haru and Ann, the ambassadors of spring, even when he is the epitome of falling foliage. For someone like Yusuke, a true admirer for everything beautiful, he had no choice but to think Akira was divine.

It truly wasn’t meant to be, though; Yusuke was winter. It was cold and bleak, nothing grew, and overall gloomy and isolating. Makoto assured him otherwise, about the wonders of their own season, showing him to all the good things about the season when it came to last year, but Yusuke only concluded she represented the festivities and the merriment, while he was the one offering the bad side effects of the season. Hypothermia. Frostbite. Christmas trees lighting on fire. The nonexistent verdure. He was probably the reason for all that, right?

Yet when Yusuke chose to go out alone at night, watching the snow fall silently on the ground, Akira would join him. They would stand and watch in silence, watching their own breaths become visible, their hands in their pockets. He had to hold in the temptation to reach out for his hand. Akira would have a red scarf wrapped around him, partially covering his mouth, and sometimes he’d pull it up to make a tiny bit of warmth on his face. He had the same red gloves as he did, even when summer kicked in and Ryuji invited him out. 

They would always wordlessly enjoy each other’s company, staying up at night just to see the snow descend from the heavens like an angel. Yusuke doesn’t know what Akira’s feeling those times he shared with him in stillness, but he always cherished them. It was something only he and Yusuke shared. He would trade anything in the world just to be besides him and eyeing the falling angels. 

One day, Halloween was coming to a close. It befitted to both Futaba’s and Akira’s mischief and slightly darker side, so Yusuke loved it as much as the others did. Ryuji would go around eating candy even though Ann complained he was grown up, Haru would decorate homes with Yusuke, and Akira and Futaba went around spooking people. Morgana set up lots of traps and haunted houses.

There used to be one boy who Yusuke faintly remembered as Akechi. He was slightly sketchy (sketchy Akechi), and he felt wary whenever he was around him. He used to be an ambassador for autumn as well, but he… well, he couldn’t remember what he did. It had deeply scarred Akira, that’s for sure, and Yusuke never forgave him for that. Earlier then, he’d go out dressed like a detective, solving the murder mysteries the whole group orchestrated for him to discern, and there has never been a year where he never found the answer.

Going back to that particular Halloween, Akira invited him out late at night as everyone went out for fun. He invited him to his favorite tree. It wasn’t massive even though it was old, because Akira liked medium-sized trees. It was deciduous as ever, but almost all the ocher vegetation had fallen into the ground.

He patted the ground, inviting the bluenette next to him. He obliges. Sitting together, Akira leans on his shoulder and sighs contentedly. 

“You don’t talk much, do you, Yusuke?” Akira remarks as he makes himself at home on Yusuke’s side. 

“No, I suppose not,” he answers, blinking. “However, did you forget I tend to go off on a tangent when I speak about the things that truly fascinate me?”

The person at his side seems to pause as he considers. When he shifts his movements, he knows he’s going to speak up.

“I just mean, you don’t seem to talk to the others much,” Akira points out, eyebrows knitting. Yusuke feels the tension within Akira relax, though. “Though, I somehow find that calming.”

“As if you aren’t already calm.”

He can sense the grin on his friend’s face.

“Sometimes.” He stretches once more and leans back down. “I do enjoy watching… snow with you though.”

He makes it sound weird, but putting it into perspective, it really is.

“I treasure those moments,” Yusuke admits.

He can hear his partner’s breath hitch, words stuck in his throat for a moment. He can see that it had an effect, because Akira almost always has a comeback or comment to say to others. When it came to sentimentality, though, he had never expected him to be so hesitant. Maybe he had done the wrong choice, but those thoughts quickly scatter as he says,

“Me too.”

Yusuke contemplates what else to say, but before he could say any more, his friend had already fallen asleep.

 

 

 

Before anyone could comprehend it, winter had come and provided a cold blanket of snow over one side of the world. Everyone seemed so excited and happy for it, but Yusuke, for one, can’t seem to enjoy it even when he represents the season itself.

Makoto, however, fully embraces it; she likes to play Santa with the others, and became some sort of saint when the holidays approached. She was like Mother Theresa. She also helped with other religions who had holidays pertaining to the winter, making sure all preparations were in place. She constantly worked hard to do everything she can.

Meanwhile, Yusuke painted the world white. No matter how much he tries to make the world beautiful with a bit of ice and water, nothing seemed to satisfy him. Something that stuck with him, however, is Makoto saying, “there is beauty in winter.”

Yusuke can’t find it in himself to believe that’s true, but he took comfort in her words. She never says something that she didn’t mean.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


Yusuke is winter.

He’d be atop a gnarled and twisted tree on a small hill, sitting there and looking at the world covered in blinding whiteness and naked trees; he’d look at the  _ aurora borealis  _ with feelings swirling in his mild gray eyes, feelings such as amazement, disdain, curiosity, and shame. It was a confusing state of affairs for Akira, because how could anyone look at the Southern Lights with such mixed feelings? Even when he had come to believe Yusuke possibly dislikes the view, he had seen him paint such, and saw it wasn’t the case. 

Yusuke had a shirt the color of snow, dark blue hair that looked like the color of sinister ice, and piercing looks of icicles. However, he moved how a snowflake would as it plummeted to the ground, natural graceful and with poise, and is as beautiful as the scenery of a countryside covered in a thick white blanket. He offered warmth like a hearth when it came to his friends, but had a somewhat aloof demeanor that kept others not too close from his heart. He was like a mild sun with an ice as a core.

Akira was determined to thaw the ice that kept him away from Yusuke.

At first, he had only wanted to develop a meaningful, platonic relationship with him as he did with the others, and he knew it was possible -- it’s possible to befriend anyone, he believed. He wanted to see what was beyond the icy barrier, and he got more than what he bargained for.

When he realized the silent charm Yusuke had to offer, he knew that desiring just a platonic relationship with him was not attainable anymore. When he’d plead jokingly with Yusuke to lay down on his lap, he’d seriously consider it and most of the time allow him. His slender, and chillingly ticklish fingers would brush away the stray hair on Akira’s face as he laid down during autumn mornings and afternoons. Then, on winters, he’d usually like to chat with others, but with Yusuke, he would love nothing more but to simply indulge in the muteness and smell Yusuke’s scent.

He smelled like pinecones and cocoa.

His sincerity ultimately captivated him, as well as his poetic way of speaking, his honesty, his passion -- honestly, almost everything about Yusuke. He had come to admire all of Yusuke’s habits and slight movements, how his eyes flicker when he sees something he likes, the way he looks down in thought so intensely for the smallest of things, his sometimes dramatic gestures which is comedy gold for the group; even the way he seems so melancholy when winter approaches, how the wind howls when he sometimes find him in a somber mood, or a pained smile flash in his face at times, and he doesn’t know why. He wants to know why so badly, but he doesn’t, and it makes Akira frustrated to no end.

One day, as they do their ritual of sitting in the snow and watching the snowflakes descend, he speaks up and breaks their unspoken rule.

“Yusuke.”

It seems to jolt the admirer of beauty from his reverie.

“Y… Yes, Akira?”

Akira is reluctant to ask this question, as it may be too personal, but he had to try. He wanted to know why.

“Why do you look sad?”

His friend slowly blinks. “I apologize, but I do not understand.”

He sighs, his eyes mellowing. “Sometimes when I look at you, you always seemed as if… you were in pain.”

There was silence for a moment. He heard a shaky breath and saw a puff of white cloud in his peripheral vision.

“You must be mistaken.”   


Hurt pounded in his chest, knowing he was keeping a secret about something so big to him. He wants to understand him, to know what he’s going through and help him. He can’t if he won’t tell him. Akira fists some snow in his hand as he tries to keep his cool, which is hard even in the chilly weather. 

  
“Yusuke,  _ please, _ ” he beseeched, reaching out to grab Yusuke’s hand, but he sharply pulls away upon reflex. It stunned Akira, and he knew he overstepped. His words are stuck in his throat, and he wills some of the pain in his chest and anxiety in his stomach to go away. It doesn’t.

“... Sorry.”

When he had pushed Akira away, it was going to be the last time he ever will. They had slowly grown distant to the point their friendship becomes strained and far away. Suddenly, they don’t have the time they used to before for some odd reason, and there was nothing to do about that.

Ryuji had tried to ask Akira about it, but he always assured that everything was fine and there was just a lot of things to do that kept coming up coincidentally that prevents him from doing that. He bought it, but Akira’s other friends couldn’t be fooled. He was avoiding him, and they know why.

They also saw this trend in Yusuke, who had nonchalantly claimed they were too busy to hang out, and nothing more. They concluded that they had a fight, and tried to be patient to let it all blow over.

As seasons passed, nothing had been solved. Winter was approaching fast once more, and it seemed their relationship was beyond irreparable.

However, they grouped up and decided together that they didn’t have to do anything from the start. They knew that Yusuke and Akira had a sacred ritual together that they performed, and they can hardly believe the both of them would miss it even if the world was going to split in half.

The temperatures dropped to a low.

The snow had visited once more.

The merriment continued.

The bleak began.

It was winter.

A boy trawled the cold terrain, snow crunching beneath his shoes as he went towards his destination. He doesn’t know if the other boy will be there, but they hoped and hoped and so desperately wished they were there, waiting for him, smiling at him when he comes.

Then, as they stepped forward to the tree, they paused as they look to the other side and see the other boy.

“Yusuke,” Akira murmurs.

“Akira.”

Akira sighs and takes his hand. “I’m sorry, I just… I just wanted to understand you.”

Yusuke nods. “I apologize for acting immaturely. I will explain any detail with you, if you desire it.”

Akira smiles, and the snow around them seemed to melt. “That would be nice.”

They sat down, talked to one another, the second of the many violations of the unspoken rule of their snow watching from that point on.

Yusuke reached out a hand. Akira gratefully takes it. 

**Author's Note:**

> never meant for the angst to be there, just pure fluff, but things go awry ok


End file.
